Why did you pick Microsoft over Symbian?

[subzerohf]

There has been some comments around Microsoft's attempt to gain market share from Symbian. And one comment indicated that Symbian is a better platform than Windows Mobile.

http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9720

Frankly I know nothing about the Symbian OS. I bought a SMT5600 because it runs on Windows Mobile, and everyone seems to like the phone. And my favorite carrier did not carry any Symbian phones at the time.

So I did not do any research on the Symbian platform at all. Has anyone seriously considered Symbian over Microsoft and still picked Microsoft? Can you enlighten me with your reasons for your decision?

[Sven Johannsen]

And my favorite carrier did not carry any Symbian phones at the time.
Your favorite carrier didn't carry Nokia? http://www.symbian.com/phones/index.html

I didn't make a great study of the differences in the OSs. Outside of the WM camp, I think you'd be hard pressed to find folks that even know what OS their phone runs, or think of it running an OS for that matter. Phones have capabilities, like making calls, sending messages, and now taking pictures, playing music, etc. There are e-mail and web browsers on both platforms.

I think it has a parrallel in Windows vs Mac. They do the same things, about equally well IMHO, so it becomes a matter of how they do it and what you like or are comfortable with.

I'm comfortable with Windows, and the Mobile offerrings make sense to me. I believe that they are more extensible with third party programs that matter to me, though I haven't made an exhaustive search of what is available for Symbian phones.

I use Outlook and I know that my WM devices work with it out of the box. I've had a T610 and a Razr and they too can share with Outlook but it wasn't nearly as seamless.

Maybe Symbian is a better phone OS, but that is what it was designed to be. I personally like the extensibility of the WM OS, because it can be a phone, a PDA, a media platform and combinations, all with a similar familiar interface.

[Mike Temporale]

I would agree with Sven, that most Smartphone owners don't really know what OS their phone has in it. They buy a phone because it looks nice, someone told them that it's a good phone, their company provided it, or it's was part of a promotion from the carrier.

For the rest of us, that care to know a little more, it can come down to a number of things. Enterprise is a big part of the picture here. Microsoft has made sure that their Smartphone works and plays well in an enterprise environment. And let's not forget developers. Microsoft has made it really easy for developers to embrace and extend their knowledge to the mobile platform. These factors along with the multimedia and familiarity of Windows Mobile helped me to choose WinMo. :D

[Rocco Augusto]

I would agree with Sven, that most Smartphone owners don't really know what OS their phone has in it...

coming from someone that sells phones all day there are a lot of smartphone customers that don't even know they have a smartphone. for instants the other day at work a gentleman came in with an mpx220. he wanted to get rid of the phone for two reasons:

1) he wanted a phone that played mp3's like his friends phones
2) he wanted to browse through sports news on the internet

now his phone was perfectly able to do both of those things but he had no idea they could do so, he just got the phone because it was all silver and looked shiney.

all he thought the phone could do was make phone calls and when i asked him if he saw the microsoft windows stuff all over the phone he just thought that microsoft marketed the phone, he didnt think it was possible to do all that stuff that a WM phone could do because the phone was small, compared to laptops and desktops that is.

-opti-

[Mike Temporale]

coming from someone that sells phones all day there are a lot of smartphone customers that don't even know they have a smartphone. for instants the other day at work a gentleman came in with an mpx220. he wanted to get rid of the phone for two reasons:

1) he wanted a phone that played mp3's like his friends phones
2) he wanted to browse through sports news on the internet

now his phone was perfectly able to do both of those things but he had no idea they could do so, he just got the phone because it was all silver and looked shiney.

all he thought the phone could do was make phone calls and when i asked him if he saw the microsoft windows stuff all over the phone he just thought that microsoft marketed the phone, he didnt think it was possible to do all that stuff that a WM phone could do because the phone was small, compared to laptops and desktops that is.

-opti-


8O :rotfl: :rotfl:

Priceless and exactly my point. I love it. :mrgreen:

[Jerry Raia]

he just got the phone because it was all silver and looked shiney.

Well he got that part right at least! :lol: